Board split as member says levy asks 'more money and offering less'

A board member at the Aug. 3 special meeting said she could not support the levy proposal and described it as "asking the community for more money and offering less," saying the resolution would not restore programs previously cut from the district budget.

The dissenting member said she favored running an enrichment-only levy and taking a broader fight to the state, but she said she had not found colleagues willing to follow that approach. She argued the current proposal fails to bring back previously eliminated activities and risks community backlash.

Bill Haas, the board vice president, and another board member, Elise, countered that the board's primary duty is to keep the district financially solvent, arguing that failure to secure local funding could trigger state financial oversight or absorption into a neighboring district. Elise noted the levy is "the one tax that stays here in this community," and listed programs community members would like to restore — including middle-school sports, drama, library services and school resource officers — while acknowledging that the referenced levy level would not, on its own, restore those services.

The exchange highlighted a policy tension: whether to pursue a larger levy to preserve district operations or to ask voters for a narrower enrichment measure and press the state for additional funding. The meeting record shows the dissent remained unresolved when the board moved to a vote.